My favorite professors and lecturers are always the ones who tell a story and provide some contextual interest to the data being presented. A good story about the hard work of the scientists who first made major discoveries give the science a personal feeling that draws me in. The context also helps me remember more about the significant findings! I learn better from a story than having a list of facts to memorize. (Turns out, not only am I not alone, it has been suggested that using more stories to teach science may be a way to keep bright young women interested in careers in STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.)

My boss sent me this article from the Public Library of Science (PLoS) website. A genetics professor started a science-themed book club, and she shared her favorite books from a range of genres – memoirs, biographies, fiction, and nonfiction.

Here are some of the science-themed books on my list, a few of which I have read and highly recommend, and a few I can’t wait to start – possibly in my own Science Book Club someday! Click on the title to see the Goodreads page for the book. There, you can read a summary, see comments and reviews from people who have read it, and find related books you might enjoy.

As this list is quite long, I will have a few posts by genre. After I get through this initial list that I already have, I will continue to add to the list under the category “Science-themed Reading List” which you can access on the right hand side of the blog in the “tag cloud.” I’m always taking suggestions; let me know if your favorite science-themed books aren’t on my list yet!

I found this book by chance at a used bookstore a few years ago, and highly recommend it! It is a quick read that even this grad student found time for. The list of experiments discussed in this book may not actually be the “10 Most Important,” but the author chose his stories carefully because they were good stories. He clearly laid out the story of how the scientists started asking their “big” question and how they went about answering their question with their elegant and creative experiments. If you have been enjoying the historical elements of the new Cosmos series, I think you will enjoy this book.

I recently finished the second book on this list. In fact, this book is probably responsible for my current interest in the history of science. This book discusses the personal and professional lives of women scientists from the 19th and early 20th centuries in contrast to the lives of their better-known male counterparts.

The story of Henrietta Leavitt and her group of female “computers” from Harvard is briefly covered in the Marie Curie Complex and was also mentioned in the Cosmos episode “Sisters of the Sun.” These women were hired to catalog data collected by others. Even though the “real” astronomers didn’t believe these women were capable of critically analyzing data, Leavitt’s discovered a way to measure the vast distances to far-off galaxies. Members of this group also found a way to measure the temperature of stars – a huge step in understanding star formation.

Connecting history and chemistry, this book explores unexpected connections between substances such as coffee, tin, silk, and spices, and the effects they had on exploration, war, technological advances.

This story of true events is supposed to read like a mystery novel. In a time when poisons were an untraceable and easy way to commit murder, two forensic scientists, a chief medical examiner and a toxicologist, basically develop the field of chemical forensics to track down and stop their suspects.

I read this book for a course in college and really enjoyed it! It follows the medical mystery of the outbreak of mad cow and related disease and scientists across multiple continents trying to discover the cause of these infections. This book is full of suspense as scientists slowing try to figure out how an otherwise normal but misfolded protein can cause so much harm.

For those who like a little politics and social history/commentary in their science stories, this book discussed how the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s spread across the country before officials began to take it seriously. Shilts highlights both the failures of the political, medical, and scientific institutions, and the hard word of the individuals involved in solving this medical mystery.

This is the story of the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project. The physics and research is cool! And the outcome was terrible! I am specifically interested in reading this book because the author of the list inspiring this post calls it her “all-time favorite science narrative” and I did so enjoy his “Deadly Feasts” mentioned above.

This is a story about the beginning of molecular biology (Central Dogma Post), a subject near and dear to me (Analogy Post). Judson interviewed many of the scientists involved in discovering the structure of DNA, the genetic code, and how genes are regulated.

This is probably the most well known book on this list. I bought it several years ago when I was actually doing cancer research, but I still haven’t read it even though everyone says is it great. It’s the story of a woman dying of cervical cancer who’s cells were taken and grown without her knowledge. They developed into the first cell line scientists could easily grow in a lab and lead to breakthroughs in cancer research, vaccines, and countless other medical discoveries. Meanwhile, Lacks’ family is left feeling violated and ignored. This story raises many important questions about bioethics and ownership of such an invaluable resource.

If you are more in the mood for fiction, check out the list “Best Technothrillers Ever” for authors like Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, H. G. Wells, and George Orwell. These aren’t pure science books, but they sure are fun!

If you want better science, check out the “Best Hard Science Fiction” list. It claims that the entries make every attempt to stay true to science.

From the PLoS site that I have on my bookcase but haven’t read yet:
Your Inner Fish

From your list I’ve Read:
Deadly Feasts

Other books on my bookcase that aren’t on either list but I highly suggest:
The Transforming Principle (Maclyn McCarty)
Genome (Matt Ridley)
The Monk in the Garden (Robin Marantz Henig)
The Immortal Cell (Michael D West)
A Life Decoded (J Craig Venter)

On my bookcase but haven’t read yet:
The Greatest Show on Earth (Richard Dawkins)
The Origin of Species (Charles Darwin)

OK Melanie, which one of the books on your list do you recommend for a decidedly non-scientific person? The only one on here I’ve read is October Sky. Give me one that won’t be so far over my head that I can’t understand it.

Definitely The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. LOTS of people have loved it. I read Deadly Feasts for a class in college. It is a true story, written like a CSI story in which they were hunting down the mysterious cause of mad cow disease. And Remarkable Creatures – One of my friends who is an artist raved about that one. It is like October Sky, written like a novel but based on real people.

Most of the others on these lists should also be accessible to a wide audience, but I think these three, especially Immortal Life and Remarkable Creatures, should be a good place to start! I have Immortal Life and Deadly Feasts if you want to borrow them.

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